The Vampire Hunter's Daughter: Complete Collection(64)

He had stayed with me.

I took that moment while he slept to examine him without him knowing I was staring at him. He sat kind of sideways in the chair, head tilted and leaned against the wall. The hood on his sweatshirt was pulled up, covering his hair. For such a tough guy, he had really long eye lashes. I was actually a little jealous of them.

He must have showered and changed, because his skin and clothes looked clean.

I watched him sleep for so long he must have felt my eyes on him. They fluttered open and settled on me.

“Hey,” he whispered.

“Hey,” I whispered back.

He shifted in the chair until he sat forward and leaned toward me. “Are you feeling better?”

I nodded. “Better now. I think they have me on pain meds.” I lifted my wrist to show him the IV.

“I’m sorry I let you get shot.”

I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Yeah, how could you?” I asked him sarcastically. “I’m not sorry. I’m just happy I’m not dead.”

Finally, he smiled. “That’s a good point.”

I looked down at my leg. “So how bad is it?”

“Actually, it could have been way worse. The bullet hit toward the outside of the calf. It completely missed the bone. It went in and out.”

“Ugh.”

“You’re pretty lucky it didn’t hit the bone or anything.” He tried to make it sound good. “You should heal pretty well.”

“Well, I’m probably going to heal faster than you think,” I told him

He raised his eyebrows. “The vampire thing?”

“Yeah, I should probably get out of here before the whole thing is healed up, and they think I’m some miracle child or something.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” He nodded.

I looked around the hospital room. “Where is everyone?”

“Alice and Gavin are down the hall in their own rooms, and Luke is around here somewhere.”

“Oscar?” I really hoped he was okay. I couldn’t remember anything after getting in the Jeep.

“He’s being treated at home by our own medics.” When I raised my eyebrows, he spread his hands out. “Well, we couldn’t exactly bring him here with all those bites.”

He was right. “Why is Alice here?”

Drew leaned back in the chair again. “The doctors say she is suffering from shock. Other than that, she doesn’t have any injuries.”

“Oh.” I reached down and fiddled with the blanket. “I hope she’s going to be all right… like, mentally or emotionally, or whatever.”

“She'll probably be fine. They said that most of the people who go through this recover with rest and relaxation.”

“Well, what did you tell them happened to us?”

He shrugged. “I told them we were walking home from the movies when some guys tried to mug us. We fought back, and they shot you guys. I suppose the cops will want to talk to you once they know you're awake, which is probably another reason to get out of here soon.”

I supposed that would have been a believable story. Believable enough anyway.

Suddenly my mind took me back to the road, and I was reliving the face-off with the father I’d never known, trying to kill him. I was shot and lay helpless on the ground while the people who came to rescue me fought the vampires. I wished I could have been a better fighter and could have held my own more, or least been more help than the hindrance I felt I'd been.

I reached for the water glass beside the bed on the bedside rolling table and couldn’t reach it, so Drew handed it to me.

“Thank you.” I took a sip and swished it around in my mouth for a second before I swallowed.

The door opened quietly, and Luke slipped inside. “Chloe! You’re awake.”

“Yes.” I nodded. I wanted to hug him. More than that, a feeling I didn’t expect, I needed to hug him. He must have sensed this because he set his little paper coffee cup on the counter, came right over and gave me a gentle embrace.

“I missed you.”

I grinned. He felt like home to me. “I missed you, too. When can I go home?”

“They said you and Alice can come home today, but Gavin has to stay longer.”

I knew it was going to peeve Drew, but I asked anyway. “Can I go see him? How bad is he?”

As I expected, Drew turned away. He stood and went to the sink to fiddle with whatever was there just to avoid having to answer the question.

Luke answered, “Gavin was shot just beneath his ribs. The bullet had to be removed, so he needed surgery. Luckily, the bullet had lodged between his spleen and stomach, but missed the organs. And yes, you can see him, but they are keeping visits very short. He’s asleep most of the time anyway since he got out of surgery.” He paused, looked at Drew, and then back at me. “Do you want me to tell the nurses you want to go visit?”

I shook my head. “Let’s wait until I’m released, that way I can wear clothes instead of a hospital gown.”

“Oh, speaking of which…” he pointed at a gym bag in the corner. “I brought you some clean ones.”

I squeezed his hand. “You’re awesome. Thank you for thinking of that.”

He returned my squeeze. “Well, that’s a nice compliment, but it wasn’t me. Drew called and asked me to bring them.”